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Exploring India

The Search for the “Ocean” Alexander had heard many tales of India. Many Greek writers had portrayed India as a place of monsters, poisons, gold and gems. Reports had reached Greece of giant, gold-digging ants, wool growing on trees, men who lay on their backs and used their huge feet to shade them from the sun and elephants that could be trained to sew. Alexander wanted to solve the mystery of the “Ocean.” He had been taught that this was a huge, continuous sea which flowed in a circle around the land. He believed that if he crossed the River Indus, he would find the “Ocean.” When he finally reached the Indian Ocean, he sacrificed some bulls to the Greek sea god, Poseidon, for leading him to his goal.

T he capital of the Mauryan Empire

The Rise of Chandragupta Maurya

In about 321 bce , a young prince, Chandragupta Maurya, seized power and founded the great Mauryan Empire. He built his capital at Pataliputra (modern-day Patna). He defeated the Seleucid Greeks, who had inherited the eastern part of Alexander’s empire, but remained on friendly terms with them. In about 305 bce , the Seleucids sent an envoy , Megasthenes, to Chandragupta’s court at Pataliputra. Megasthenes wrote a detailed account of his Indian experiences in a book called the Indika. Megasthenes’ book was important because it formed the Christian view of India right up until the Middle Ages (c.500-c.l500). In the Indika, Megasthenes describes the empire’s administration, economy and secret service. Megasthenes also relates how Chandragupta lived in great luxury at Pataliputra, in a huge wooden palace. The Greek reports that Chandragupta lived in fear of his life and slept in a different bedroom every night to avoid being assassinated. Whenever he left the palace, he was guarded by a band of women on horseback. Chandragupta died in about 297 bce .

A lexander’s quest to find the “Ocean” was fueled by fabulous, largely untrue, Greek accounts of India.

The Art of Gandhara A lasting reminder of the Greeks in India is the influence of their artistic style on Indian art and sculpture. This was very

strongly felt in Gandhara in the first and second centuries CE Greek and Buddhist (see page 13) styles of sculpture merged to produce graceful

statues, draped in long, flowing robes. This was not the result of Alex- ander’s legacy,

however. Greek styles of art were copied by the Romans whose traders were in regular contact with India (see page 18).

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